


Secret Sweetheart

by Icarus (Slickarus)



Category: Spring Awakening - Sheik/Sater
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Multi, Secret sweetheart, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-18 04:35:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13674387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slickarus/pseuds/Icarus
Summary: This Valentine's Day, Wendla decided to make some fun and run a game of Secret Sweetheart. Of course, the stakes become that much higher when you draw the name of the person you have had a crush on since forever. What is Ernst supposed to do?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day (and if it's not Valentine's Day when you're reading this, happy regular day)!

When Wendla initially announced that she was organizing a Secret Sweetheart party for Valentine’s Day, Ernst didn’t give it much thought. He gave it this thought: “sounds fun”, which he then expressed to Wendla to her beaming approval. The game would be pretty simple: the week before, Wendla would go around and everyone would draw someone else’s name out of a bag, and then on the two days leading up to Valentine’s Day, they’d have to leave little notes or gifts for their person in their locker, culminating in a Valentine’s Day reveal party at Wendla’s house. No one was going to enforce the rules, of course, but when Wendla told you the rules, you nodded your head and you followed them.

Wendla’s reasoning for doing the gift exchange was twofold. Firstly, any attempt at a Secret Santa/Secret Snowflake ordeal had utterly fallen through when Hanschen and Melchior had that gigantic fight during final exams. Tensions had been running so high that Wendla figured it was best to not tamper and just let everyone have their space. Anyway, after grades had been released, Hanschen and Melchior seemed to have made up. Secondly, everyone in their circle of friends was currently single, so no one really had Valentine’s Day plans. Wendla felt like she should attempt to curb any poor, lonely decisions some of her friends might try to make.

Anyway, Ernst listened to all of this with an interested expression and appropriate nodding and ‘uh-huh’-ing before Wendla offered to let him be the first one to choose a name from the bag. She produced a brown paper bag from her backpack and held it out to Ernst.

“Remember, no telling anyone. And no trading!” Ernst rolled his eyes playfully as he dug his hand into the bag, feeling the folded slips of paper with his fingertips until he grabbed one on a whim.

He pulled it out and looked at it, covering it with his hand so that Wendla couldn’t see through the paper. And then his heart stopped beating and he tried his best to look normal even though he could feel his cheeks burning hot. He quickly slid it into his pocket and noticed Wendla staring at him, ready to revoke her statement of ‘no telling anyone’ just so that she could confirm her suspicion.

“Now you,” Ernst said, playing it cool and taking the bag so that Wendla could pick. She stuck her tongue out a bit as she reached, and then pulled out her own slip of paper. Ernst couldn’t tell who it was, but Wendla seemed slightly disappointed. “Who’d you get?”

“I can’t tell, that’s the rule,” she said as she took the bag back. Now I have to go find everyone else. Remember, we start on Monday.”

Ernst nodded as she walked away and kept his expression neutral until she disappeared from sight. Then he immediately pulled his slip out of his pocket and re-read it just to make sure that he wasn’t going crazy. Oh God, he either had the worst luck in the world or the best luck. He had no idea how he was supposed to handle three days of giving tokens of his love and affection to the only person that he really meant it for. He was never going to survive without making a fool of himself in front of Hanschen Rilow.

<3 <3 <3

“Who drew Ernst?” Hanschen asked, frowning as he looked down at Moritz’s name on his slip of paper.

“I don’t know who anyone has, Hanschen. It’s part of the game.”

“Cut that impartial game-master act. You know how much I need this.”

“Hanschen, you could just tell Ernst that you’re interested in-”

“Shh!” Hanschen looked around frantically at the completely empty hallway. Wendla rolled her eyes. “Come on Wendla, I really need this. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Okay, I want you to walk up to Ernst right now and tell him you’re in love with him.”

“Anything but that.” Hanschen groaned. “I’ll give you five dollars if you’ll help me.”

“I can’t be swayed with bribery, Rilow.”

“Wendla, please. I’m begging you.” Hanschen stared at her with such genuine pleading in his eyes that Wendla couldn’t help but feel a pang in her heart.  _ Those poor, hopeless boys. _

“Fine. I’ll help you. But you owe me big time.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Otto has Ernst; go trade with him.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know who had what?”

“I don’t know who  _ everyone _ has, but Otto accidentally dropped his slip and I saw. I couldn’t help it.”

“Wendla Bergmann you are an angel and you will not regret this!” Hanschen dashed down the hallway towards wherever he thought Otto might be and Wendla had to laugh to herself. This game couldn’t have been going more perfectly if she had planned it herself. Oh wait, she had!

<3 <3 <3  


“Take a name.” Melchior raised an eyebrow at Wendla.

“Excuse me?”

“Secret Sweetheart. You’re the last one to pick.”

“I wasn’t aware that I was being included.”

“Melchior, it’s Valentine’s Day, and before you say anything about how it’s a made-up holiday with complete capitalist overtones and a foolhardy emphasis on empty romantic gestures,” Melchior’s mouth hung open as if Wendla had snatched the words right out of it, “we’re all friends and we need an excuse to do something nice for one another. Even you. So draw a fucking name.” Melchior’s dubious look shifted into something softer after Wendla’s speech, but then instantly turned into a scowl when he read his slip.

“Oh, so this is some kind of joke?”

“What do you mean?”

“This is what I mean.” He turned his slip of paper around so that Wendla could read the name clearly written in black ink.  _ Melchior Gabor. _

Wendla burst out laughing. “I can’t believe this,” she managed to say. “Of course you would be the one to draw yourself.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “Melchi, I promise that wasn’t on purpose, but you have to admit it’s hilarious.”

“There is a certain irony in it, certainly. But what do I do? Just send gifts to myself? There aren’t any names left.”

“Tell you what,” Wendla said. “You can have Georg, and I’ll take you.” They swapped papers and Melchior shrugged.

“At least I know I’m in good hands.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's day one of Secret Sweetheart, and everyone's on edge wondering who their Sweetheart might be - and whether their gifts went over well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gosh I know this is a valentine's day fic I'm very sorry this is late but I hope you enjoy it regardless.

Hanschen could not peel his eyes from Ernst during lunch on the first day of Secret Sweetheart. Every bite he took of his sandwich, every sip of his lemonade, Hanschen scanned for some kind of sign about whether he liked the gift that had been carefully placed in his locker. And whether he knew Hanschen had been the one to place it there.

Hanschen’s first gift for Ernst had been a generic-looking thumbdrive with a playlist of songs on it that made him feel light inside. The way Ernst made him feel. He’d written out the playlist on a notecard so that Ernst wouldn’t be confused by the gift (he’d written it with his right hand so that Ernst wouldn’t recognize his handwriting). Maybe Ernst didn’t have a computer, or hated all of the songs, or the thumbdrive had gotten lost, because Ernst looked exactly the same as usual and was just sitting there and eating his lunch like Hanschen wasn’t having the largest freakout of his life two seats away from him.

But Hanschen wasn’t the only one. Lunchtime was actually particularly quiet because no one was allowed to talk about the one thing that everyone wanted to talk about. Like Hanschen, everyone was trying to figure out who their Secret Sweetheart was.

Well, not  _ everyone _ . For example, Georg was pretty sure that he knew who had him, given the fact that his gift was a CD with ‘La damnation de Faust’ on it. Which he appreciated very much. But still, there was no one who would get him a Faust-related gift besides Melchior.

And then there was Melchior, who kept stealing glances over at Wendla. He was rather impressed, really. He’d opened his locker to find a delicious pair of raspberry muffins and a hand-scribbled note featuring several different quotes from his favorite books. He wondered if Wendla had gotten someone else to write it, because the handwriting was much heavier and blockier than hers usually was. Wendla returned his ‘knowing’ glances with mild amusement.

Ernst, for his own part, was trying very hard not to look over at Hanschen, who kept staring at his. Ernst was certain that Hanschen knew he had him. That’s why he kept looking. Hanschen knew and Hanschen probably hated his gift, or thought it was hilariously childish. Ernst had found the perfect pair of pink socks with little black cat heads patterned like polka dots on them, and had written down a little poem for Hanschen. The poem wasn’t romantic, but it was one of Hanschen’s favorites - ‘O, Living always - always dying’. Maybe Hanschen thought it was weird to get a poem like that. Maybe Hanschen hated socks. Hanschen definitely hated  _ him. _ Oh God, Ernst couldn’t look over to see. This week was a nightmare. At least his own Secret Sweetheart had given him a nice gift.

“Hey Ernst,” Georg said in a desperate attempt to break the silence at the table. “That math equation was hard, huh?” Everyone stared at Georg with various degrees of confusion and he shrugged. “So much for trying to start a conversation.”

“I’ll give you a solid B for effort,” Anna said, and Georg grinned. Hanschen rolled his eyes at Georg’s obliviousness. Everyone but he seemed to realize that Anna was only interested in one person in this school, and that person was Martha. Georg could make all the doe eyes he wanted at her, and she would hardly bat an eyelash.

“That’s very generous,” Thea said. “I mean, seriously, ‘that math equation was hard?’ Why not try to start a conversation about how Otto’s sandwich looks dry. That would surely be just as interesting.”

Otto scowled. “My sandwich is perfectly fine, thank you. Way better than your chicken looks.”

“Children, please,” Hanschen said. “The silence was better than this.”

“I’m two minutes older than you,” Thea retorted, but the conversation fell flat on the table and everyone picked at their food quietly until the bell rang.

As Ernst was putting his tray away, he felt someone’s presence close on his shoulder. He turned and nearly crashed right into Hanschen.

“Oh, God, sorry,” he said, backing away quickly and nearly knocking into someone else.

“No, it’s fine,” Hanschen laughed. “I should be apologizing. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just going to ask if we could walk to class together.”

“Yeah, of course,” Ernst said, hiking his bag up on his shoulder. “Is there something you wanted to talk about?”

Hanschen shrugged his shoulders in a way that he hoped seemed nonchalant. “Can’t I walk to class with my best friend?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Hanschen regretted them. Sure, Ernst technically was his best friend, but saying that might never make Ernst think that Hanschen could be interested in him in any other way. They walked a few paces in silence before Hanschen spoke again. “So, what did you get from your Sweetheart?”

Ernst’s heart sunk a little bit as the very last shred of hope that Hanschen might be his Secret Sweetheart died. Of course Hanschen wasn’t his sweetheart. Ernst would have to have the best luck in the world for that to happen. He tried not to let his disappointment show. “They gave me a playlist on a flashdrive. It was very thoughtful.”

Hanschen couldn’t resist asking, “who do you think it might be?”

Ernst shrugged. “I have no guesses. What about you, what did you get?”

“I actually haven’t had a chance to check yet.”

“Oh,” Ernst said calmly. Meanwhile his brain was racing. If Hanschen hadn’t gotten his gift yet, then maybe he hadn’t been staring at Ernst because he hated it. Or, he hated it so much that he didn’t even want to tell Ernst that he’d already got it so he lied to his face. Ernst was relieved that they had already reached their classroom before his brain could work itself into any more of a frenzy. “Well, I hope that it’s something nice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should only have one or two chapters left and I'm sorry it's not finished yet I just wanted to get Something out so that you wouldn't think I'd forgotten it. Thank you so much for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I'm still working on this I just have been uninspired and busy lately thank you so much for all your kind words!

Ernst blankly stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom clutching a bouquet of zinnias and thinking. Clutching the bouquet of zinnias because it had appeared in his locker earlier that day, strung up to the coat hook with baby blue ribbons and a note covered in sappy love poems and lyrics. He knew that clutching the bouquet was probably unnecessary and that he should probably put them in some water, but he kind of liked the way they felt against his chest and tickling his chin.

It was the end of the second day, and if Ernst had any hopes about what would have happened, they had been dashed. Hanschen hadn’t talked to him all day, at least not really. They’d chatted a little bit after class about the homework but then Hanschen sped away from Ernst and they didn’t talk at all about the gifts or any gossip or really anything at all and Ernst was paranoid that Hanschen found out Ernst was his sweetheart and he hated him. Oh god. Hanschen hated him. And instead of saying anything, Hanschen was just ignoring him.

Ernst took an inhale of the fresh scent of the flowers and sighed.  _ At least my sweetheart likes me. _

He idly wondered, not for the first time, who it might be. There were a few people he could count out for sure simply based on style - Melchior, for example, would never have made him a playlist this nice, since his music taste ranged from angry men quietly rapping to angry men loudly shouting.

He knew it wasn’t Anna, since everyone knew it wasn’t Anna, since Anna had Martha. Everyone knew this because Anna had finally confessed her love for Martha via letter and everyone got to hear about it about twelve times at lunch. And about how they were finally dating. It was mostly to the group’s relief, sans Georg, who looked particularly crushed. He should have known better.

But the notes seemed too romantically skewed to be just anyone. Ernst privately hoped that it could be someone who really  _ did _ have a crush on him, but immediately felt bad because he was only really interested in one person. And that person hated him.  _ This is a vicious cycle. _

Ernst debating picking up his phone and texting Hanschen like nothing was wrong. After all, they were friends, or at least Ernst thought they were friends. And he could try to find some kind of sign that Hanschen didn’t completely hate him (as Ernst rational mind desperately tried to remind him was the case).

He grabbed his phone, typed out a ‘hey’, and then tossed it away from him as soon as he hit send. After a few agonizing moments of silence, his phone buzzed with the text notification and he had to stop himself from immediately rushing to respond.

**Hanschen:** wassup

Meanwhile, Hanschen mentally smacked himself in the forehead. There were a million ways that he could have responded to Ernst’s text and he had, quite possibly, chosen the very worst one. He sighed with relief when he saw the bubble pop up that informed him that Ernst was typing.

**Ernst:** not much im just doing homework

A lie.

**Ernst:** u?

**Hanschen:** yeah same

Hanschen racked his brain for something, anything to say that would continue this conversation.

**Hanschen:** how was your day? I feel like i didnt see you at all

Ernst grinned when he saw Hanschen’s text.  _ So he probably wasn’t avoiding me. _

**Ernst:** ikr! it was p good

**Ernst:** melchior tried to jump on his desk to prove a point today but he fell off lmao

**Hanschen:** oh my god thats hilarious

**Ernst:** i wish i had it on video it was wild

**Ernst:** he knocked over like 2 chairs on his way down

**Ernst:** anyway how was ur day?

**Hanschen:** not as good as yours, apparently

Ernst watched his phone screen intently, but no typing bubble popped up. Was Hanschen waiting for him to respond? Was Hanschen ending the conversation there? Was Ernst reading too much into this?

**Hanschen:** sorry omg Boogaloo just jumped on my lap and you know her, never sated unless she’s being petted

**Hanschen:** the highlight of my day was probably seeing a massive eagle on my walk to school

**Hanschen:** oh or my secret sweetheart thing

**Ernst:** oh?

Hanschen patted Boogaloo’s ears as he tried to figure out the best response. The gift had been very sweet - a bunch of folded paper hearts and flowers with rhyming couplets about what his sweetheart loved about him in a mason jar. Even though he loved it a lot, he worried that his gushing about it to Ernst might make Ernst think that Hanschen  _ wasn’t _ interested in him, which was not the impression he was trying to give off.

**Hanschen:** some cute notes. are you ready for the reveal party tomorrow?

**Ernst:** idk

Should Ernst say more? How to express that he was utterly nauseous at the idea of Hanschen finding out that he’d been leaving sappy gifts for him, and at the same time completely excited? Ernst also wasn’t ready to find out who’d been so sweet to him this week if they really did have a crush on him. Maybe he was being egotistical. They were all just friends, right? No one was harboring secret feelings for him?

**Hanschen:** i have to go feed Boogaloo. see you tomorrow

Hanschen waited for Ernst to respond, but after a few moments of nothing, he got up to feed his cat and left the phone on the couch so that he wouldn’t be distracted waiting for the reply.

“Alright Miss Boogaloo, it’s time for your dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to finish this before March but I guess That's not gonna happen...there should only really be 1 chapter unless something wildly unexpected happens.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final night aka the reveal party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for waiting so patiently; here's the final chapter!

Hanschen decided that he really needed to learn how to drive. He decided this because if he could drive, he wouldn’t have to sit in the backseat of Thea’s car while she and Ilse sat in the front seat on the drive to Wendla’s house for the party. He wouldn’t have to sit next to Moritz who, bless his heart, was trying his best to look like he was not being pursued by some phantom threat. His hands were shaking, and he was staring at his knees, and the girls were too busy singing along to the radio to notice.

“Moritz,” he said in a low voice. “Are you okay?”

“What? Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You can tell me if something’s wrong.” Moritz shook his head.

“I really can’t.” Hanschen might have felt slightly offended if he didn’t know Moritz so well.

“I promise I won’t tell.”

“No, it’s -” Moritz made a noise of frustration, then whipped out his cell phone and tapped something into it. Hanschen felt a buzz in his pocket.

“Oh.”

**Moritz:** i cant tell u tell u because its about isle

**Moritz:** *ilse

**Hanschen:** what about her? did she do something?

Moritz gave Hanschen a look of incredulity. Hanschen shrugged.

“You don’t know? I thought everyone knew.”

He started typing again.

**Moritz:** ive had a crush on her since forever adn i got her in secret sweathearts so shes gonna find out what do i do?? ???? ????////????//??

**Hanschen:** that is a lot of question marks

**Hanschen:** moritz dont worry about it

**Moritz:** ez for u to say

**Hanschen:** and you. it’ll be fine. it’s ilse, what could go wrong?

Moritz opened his mouth like he was about to tell Hanschen the ten-page-long list of things that he’d thought about going wrong when the car came to a halt and Thea’s voice rang out: “Here we are; everybody out!”

Hanschen tried to give Moritz a reassuring shoulder pat on his way out of the car. The truth was, he was probably just as nervous as his friend about how tonight would go. Tonight was the night that he’d have to present Ernst with the information that he’d been leaving the horribly sappy notes and gifts in his locker.

Per Wendla’s rules, no one gave gifts on the third day, and instead they were asked to bring an envelope addressed to their sweetheart that had their own name written inside. They’d give their envelopes to gamemaster Wendla, who would then distribute them to the appropriate parties, and they’d reveal one at a time. It was a very dramatic process, but at least it didn’t involve anyone having to make a public guess about who their sweetheart was.

So Hanschen had, tucked in his pocket, and envelope with Ernst’s name written on the front. And his name sealed inside, his fate with it. Sure, he could do his best to play it off like his feelings for Ernst extended no further than merely friendship, but deep in his gut, he knew that it was speak now or forever hold his peace.

Wendla greeted the four of them at the door with an exuberant smile and several hugs.

“Did you bring your envelopes?”

“I still think this is a little ridiculous, but yes.” Wendla stuck her tongue out at Thea.

“There’s a box in the bathroom; you can put them in one at a time. Everyone else is in the living room, and we’re still waiting on Anna and Martha to show up.”

“What’s the point?” Ilse said. “This reveal is pretty useless for them.”

“Not completely. And it’ll be nice to have everyone together.”

“Yeah, like I don’t see you all every single day.”

“You can go first, Hansi.”

Hanschen entered the bathroom in the Bergmann’s front hallway, and smiled in spite of himself when he saw the box on the counter. It was a plain cardboard shoebox with a slit cut into it and a heart drawn on it in sharpie. He made sure that the door was shut behind him before slipping his envelope into the box and saying a silent prayer of some sort.

He was almost grateful when he walked into the living room and saw that Ernst was already seated next to Otto on the couch, leaving no room for Hanschen next to him. Hanschen sat next to Georg, who looked somewhat crushed. 

“Georg, are you okay?” Georg responded with a sigh. “What is it?”

“I don’t know why I’m even here. I thought I was so lucky to have drawn her, you know? And now look at me. Why didn’t anyone  _ tell _ me she was a lesbian?”

“Buddy, I hate to break it to you, but she talks about it all the time.” He sighed again.

“I suppose I was simply too infatuated to notice.”

“But you’ll get to find out who has you,” Hanschen tried. Georg shook his head.

“I already know who it is.” Hanschen followed Georg’s gaze to where Melchior was not-so-subtly watching the way Otto’s arms flexed as he stretched them up over his head. Only Melchior would be the one to give away telltale gifts.

“I’m sorry, pal,” Hanschen said, and went for the ol’ shoulder pat.  _ Why do I keep doing this? _

The doorbell chimed, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “Fuckin’ finally,” Ilse commented when she opened the door to Anna and Martha.

“We’re not late, are we?”

“No, but you’re the last ones here, so hurry it on up.”

They put their envelopes in the box, and when everyone was seated in something like a circle, Wendla began to hand out envelopes.

“Okay, who wants to go first?”

“I will,” Melchior said, raising his hand with the same cockiness he used whenever he was about to correct a teacher’s grammar or something. “Let’s see.” His ‘envelope’ was really just a piece of notebook paper folded over with the name on the inside. When Melchior read the name inside, he looked extremely confused. “Otto?” He looked over at Wendla. “But-”

“You didn’t think I’d let you know who you had, did you? I switched with Otto right after you picked.”

“Huh. Well, thanks Otto.” As Melchior’s mind was no doubt reinterpreting all the gifts he’d received as being from Otto, a pink blush crept into his cheeks. Otto grinned at him.

“You liked them?”

“I found them very pleasant, yes.” He might have said more, but Otto practically crushed him in a hug.

“Ahem?” Wendla said. “You two can work your feelings out later; let’s keep it going.”

Otto’s cheeks began to blush as well. “Right,” he said. “I have, uh, Ilse! Thank you so much.” Ilse shot Otto a grin and finger guns before reaching for her own envelope.

“Moritz,” she read, and Moritz looked like he was just about ready to run out of the room. She looked at him and smiled softly. “Of course it was you.” Ilse leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, then whispered something in his ear. He nodded.

“I guess it’s my turn.” He tore the envelope open with his thumb, almost tearing the paper inside. He gasped. “It was you?”

“It was me.”

“Thank you, Wendla.”

“And let’s see, who could I possibly have?” Wendla said as she worked her envelope open.

“It’s me,” Thea announced, beating Wendla to the punch. Wendla stuck her tongue out at Thea, but then started laughing. “And I’ve got...Martha. Too bad for my hopes of having a secret sweetheart who was in love with me.”

“Thea, of course I love you,” Martha said. “I’m just not  _ in  _ love with you. I’m in love with  _ my  _ secret sweetheart.” In lieu of opening her envelope, Martha just kissed Anna, and their friends made the appropriate gagging and awwing sounds. “Who had you, babe?” Anna shuffled her envelope open.

“Oh, um, Georg. Thank you.”

“Yeah. Uh, I mean, you’re welcome.”

_ Wait a second, _ Ernst thought. Georg’s secret sweetheart was either Hanschen or Melchior. Which meant that  _ Ernst’s _ secret sweetheart was either Hanschen or Melchior. And if Ernst was right about his gifts being too nice for Melchior to have given, then that meant that  _ Ernst and Hanschen had each other.  _ And maybe Hanschen had been weird these past two days because maybe,  _ just maybe, _ he was interested in Ernst.  _ Interested  _ interested. Ernst wondered if Hanschen might be making the same deductions that he was now and, indeed, he was.

“Melchior had me. What a surprise.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“What do you think, Melchior?”

But Ernst couldn’t hear the rest of their squabble over the sounds of his heartbeat ringing in his ears as he made eye contact with Hanschen and they both came to the exact same realization at the exact same time. Hanschen raised an eyebrow and Ernst nodded.  _ You’re my secret sweetheart. _

“Wait, we came full circle. What about Ernst and Hanschen?”

“Otto, that means they had each other.”

“Woah, that’s so perfect.”

Hanschen didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what to do.  _ Float or swim, Rilow. Sink or fly. Wait, are those how those phrases go? _ What do you say to a boy that you love?

“I love you,” Ernst blurted out.  _ Apparently that. _

“I love you!” Hanschen exclaimed, with a mixture of shock and joy.

“You mean it?”

“God, yes, I love you so much.”

“Yeah, we knew.”

“Shut up Georg, you’re ruining the moment.”

“Oh,” Ernst said, as if just realizing that all their friends were watching them intently. “Maybe we should talk about this later.”

“No, you can do it now,” Wendla said. “Everybody out.”

“Seriously?” Melchior asked, but followed reluctantly as Wendla shooed the rest of their friends towards the kitchen, leaving Hanschen and Ernst alone.

“I can’t believe...this whole time?”

“Probably since I met you,” Hanschen said. “I just can’t believe you love me back.”

“Of course I do. But I never thought you loved me.”

“Ernst, I-” he paused. “We’re going in circles here. Would you like to be my boyfriend?”

“If you’ll have me.”

“Ernst, I hope you know by now, I’d only ever have you.” They heard someone say ‘aww’ behind them. “I think they’re listening,” he whispered.

“Who cares?” Ernst grinned. “Kiss me?”

“I was hoping you’d ask.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading (and waiting a whole month after Valentine's day for me to finish this fic)!

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, please leave kudos/comments or visit me on tumblr at [thatsilvermagic](http://thatsilvermagic.tumblr.com) <3


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